This application relates to the inclusion of a material into air flow streams in a gas turbine engine, wherein the material has a plurality of collection zones for collecting impurities such as dirt or sand.
Gas turbine engines are provided with a number of functional sections, including a fan section, a compressor section, a combustion section, and a turbine section. Air and fuel are combusted in the combustion section. The products of the combustion move downstream, and pass over a series of turbine rotors, driving the rotors to provide power.
Numerous components within the gas turbine engine are subject to high levels of heat during operation. As an example, a turbine rotor will have a plurality of turbine blades that are driven by high temperature products of combustion to rotate and create the power. Cooling fluid, and typically air, is passed within a body of the turbine blades, seals, and vanes to cool the components.
The air passing through a gas turbine engine is often subjected to dirt and other impurities. It is desirable that the air utilized for cooling various components be relatively clean. The cooling of the components is through relatively small passages, and the dirt and impurities can clog those small passages.
Gas turbine engines are known to have utilized a honeycombed material as an abradable seal between a stationary surface and a rotating surface. As the rotating surface rotates, the abradable seal is worn to closely fit in the interface between the stationary and rotating surface. However, these honeycombed materials have not been placed in the cooling air flow such as mentioned above.